Set condition "Darken Ship"

As the 2010 Navy Musicians Association reunion approaches its final evening, Navy Lyres goes dark.


In an hour, the concert band will play for the cocktail hour. We'll have dinner, speeches, no doubt, and a few sets of big band and rock 'n' roll.


Then it will be over. We'll toast each other one last time, say our goodbyes and pack up the gear so the equipment transportation crew can depart early in the morning.


I'm staying an extra day, so I'll be able to provide more reports tomorrow. But tonight, I'm taking off my blogging hat, whatever that is, to devote myself to one of the most joyous and bittersweet parts of an NMA reunion: the end. 

What went wrong?

It's down time at the Navy Musicians Assoication reunion. The concert band has finished it rehearsal for tonight, and we're all on liberty.

A good time to mention that something was missing at the membership meeting this morning: whining. Things never go perfectly at an NMA reunion--did you ever go on a cruise or tour where everything worked as planned?

Yet when President Chesson opened the floor for general comments, there was a serious lack of whining, bitching, moaning, kvetching and harping.

The board of directors is seriously wondering what they did wrong to deserve this

2012: Orlando, Florida

At the Saturday morning meeting of the membership of the Navy Musicians Association, Executive Vice-president Bob Leketa announced that the reunion of the Navy Musicians Association in 2012 will be in Orlando, Florida. The date is not yet set, nor is the venue; he already has proposals from 9 hotels, and lots of work remains to be done.

The definition of a loser

My enemy, the worthless Lee Hudson, just showed up at the Navy Musicians Association reunion. Two days late. Typical.

Lee tells me he got married this year and moved to Texas without a job or even a prospect thereof. Waiting to find a position in music education, Milton Leander Hudson, Ph.D, went to Wal-mart and filled out the 75-question online application form. He received an immediate response: Dr. Hudson is not qualified to work at Wal-mart and need not re-apply.

I can't tell you how happy this makes me. To think that Hudbucket is unqualified to sit on a stool in a stupid blue jacket, greeting people and handing them shopping carts fill my heart with unmeasurable joy, a joy that is in no way minimized by the knowledge that, within a week, he'd found a position as Assistant Director of Music in a nearby college.

Believe me, I was glad to be a sympathetic listening ear to an old shipmate who's been through hard times. I'm not the kind of guy who, on hearing such a tale, contains his glee until I he can duck around a corner.

I laughed in his face then and there.

What are shipmates for?

Victory at San Antonio

The Navy Musicans Association Concert Band performed "Victory at Sea" at tonight's performance. Here's a taste, enough to give you the feeling a fresh breeze in your face and a liberty card in your pocket.

Another source of NMA live-blogging

In a parallel dimension, NMA member John Derby is also blogging the Navy Musicians Association reunion at his site, Who moved my chops?

While he and I are old friends, I must point out that John is engaging in unfair competition: he knows how to operate a camera.

No fair.